Archive for month: April, 2015

Combating PFC Contaminated Water

Over the course of the last 9 years, Cornelsen has been leveraging it’s expertise in the design and implementation of water treatment technologies together with the UMSICHT Fraunhofer Institute to develop a new technically efficient and economical treatment process for Perflourinated and Polyflourinated chemicals (PFC).

These PFCs are fluorinated organic compounds in which the hydrogen atoms of the hydrocarbon skeleton are substituted fully by fluorine atoms. For this reason, they are among the strongest organic compounds and thus considered non-degradable because they persist for a long time in the environment. Their toxicological importance should not be underestimated.

Cornelsen is pleased to announce the launch our new treatment technology for the treatment of PFC contaminants; PerfluorAd.

To date, adsorption (generally on activated carbon) was the only technically feasible method to treat PFC-contaminated water. However, PFCs are typically considered to absorb poorly as the residence time required within the activated carbon filters renders the process impractical and costly.

Treatment of PFC Contaminants with PerfluorAd

Cornelsen’s PerflourAd ingredient on the contrary is injected as a liquid into the flowing water within a stirring reactor vessel. The liquid form of the ingredient leads to a high degree of contact with the contaminant to which it can readily bond with and precipitate the PFC compounds.

This approach affords the opportunity to flexibly adjust the quantity and application method of the additive to changing conditions within the untreated water. This permits optimisation of the process to target concentration levels and therefore optimise cost.